BEAUTY 101** Five Top Tips for a Flawless Fake Tan (and its Removal)

I don’t know about you gals (and guys) but fake tan on my sheets and streaks making me freak are the pits! Sure it’s great when you’re looking all tanned and sun-kissed without the risk of damaging your skin, but when it comes to getting that pesky ‘look of the kiss of the sun’ off your skin, it can leave you wondering if it’s really worth it.

I was thrilled recently to discover that there is actually a product out there (a pretty good one at that) that removes all traces of fake tan, just as quickly as a swift ‘delete all sent messages’ after a night on the sauce. For me this great news as I’ve been in the UK for a year and my legs could seriously blind you if let out in daylight! Love the tanned look on a night out, not so much a few days after.

I decided to catch up with Brie Stevenson, Co-Founder, ANTHEIA Beauty to chat about her top five tips when it comes to ensuring that the bronze glow stays on your skin, not your sheets.

Brie is a professional makeup artist with an impressive client portfolio consisting of models and celebrities. Being the co-founder of ANTHEIA Beauty, she saw a gap in the beauty market: individuals were using fake tan more than ever but there was no product effective and gentle enough for the skin to remove it. Her clients often suffered the effects of a patchy tan they struggled to remove, telling Brie that they had no choice but to resort to harsh household products. To finally free women from hours of scrubbing and soaking, Brie spent years trying every product on the market as well as DIY to find an answer but nothing worked! She decided to team up with two professionals from the beauty industry and together they launched the next absolute beauty essential: ANTHEIA Fake Tan Remover and Liquid Micro Peel; a carefully designed two-step system to support every fake tanner in their routine.

Here are her Five Top Tips when using fake tan:

Cleansing, toning and moisturising your entire body is just as important as your face, especially when fake tanning.

The skin is the largest growing organ which needs as much TLC as the face does. In terms of fake-tanning, the anti-aging and tanning industry is worth billions of dollars, yet women and men are taking to their skin with coarse mitts and products not realising the damage they are doing. Cleansing, tone and moisturise your face daily should be aligned with doing the same for the entire body, especially after putting it through the stress of self-tanning.

Don’t rely on home remedies…

Most home remedies to remove fake tan are useless and have the potential to even be dangerous. The two commonly touted ones are:

a) Lemon juice, sugar or bicarb soda

The acidic content in lemons makes lemon juice combined with these ingredients a completely natural solution to self-tan removal or at least that’s what some claim. Many have claimed rubbing the mixture on your skin and leaving it for a few minutes will work but it absolutely doesn’t! Besides the fact that lemon juice is way too acidic for the skin, this home remedy is also nowhere near the combination needed to remove the chemicals that omit a faux glow.

b) Baby oil or coconut oil

Another rumoured home remedy is applying baby oil or coconut oil to the skin and letting it soak into the topmost layer before scrubbing it off with a bath mitt. Unfortunately, coconut oil and especially baby oil is not concentrated especially for removal (think about it – why would oil help?). It further hydrates the skin making the tan harder to remove and the outer layers of the skin will end up being harshly removed by a bath mitt instead. If this is being done often it can cause serious damage to the skin.

…and household products are definitely not the answer to fake tan dilemmas!

JIF, Exit Mould and even Gumption have also been commonly spoken of in fake tan removal! These products are absolutely not the answer to removing a faux glow as they are harsh, abrasive and using chemicals on top of harsh exfoliating and scrubbing can cause extreme damage to the protective layers of the skin. Would household bleach products ever be considered for use on the face?

How to correct an uneven tan

Streaks, spots and uneven colour from your tanner is commonly caused by dry skin and exfoliating won’t help blend in the colour. An uneven area caught right after applying fake tan can be fixed by quickly applying a natural-ingredient-based makeup wipe to avoid further drying out your skin. Using a bronzer is also recommended, as a powder form to touch up small areas and wetting your brush before dipping in the bronzer for heavier coverage. For larger areas, either using liquid bronzer or a bronzing spray.

How to avoid stained clothes and linen

Keeping towels and clothes at a safe distance is always recommended but if this isn’t always possible and stepping out is needed after a self-tan session, baggy harem pants are always the answer. Changing bed sheets the night before is also key to making sure dark linen on fake-tan nights is not forgotten.